There are two chairs at the end of the table nearest him, waving to one in greeting while he is seated in the other. At the other end of the table, which earlier was not in my line of sight, sit two other people. With introductions I learn the man is Karl Kapp and the woman Jane McGonigal - whose names appear on the textbooks for the Game Based Learning course. The host suggests that to understand game based learning one first must have a good working definition of a game.
The author gurus whose books are used in class have slightly different definitions, although their definitions also contain a good bit of agreement. Those definitions can be found in Kapp's book ("What is a Game?") on pages 6-9, Kindle locations 712-771. McGonigal's definition ("The Four Defining Traits of a Game") is in her book on pages 20-25, Kindle locations 350-464.
For this Pilgrimage, one should
- identify the components each author finds to define a game
- note what components are alike and what are different
- determine what definition works best for you and describe that definition in your own__ words. While that definition could rely heavily on one or the other of our authors' definitions, one must explain with some detail why that definition is chosen. Of course a whole new definition can be developed that blends these authors' thinking in a wholly new way.
Well written, this Pilgrimage could easily amass 10 XP under the title "What is a Game?"
With a good working definition of "What is a Game" in hand, work can begin to understand "What is Gamification?"
Game Master Note: My own definition of games derives heavily from McGonigal's in finding 4 critical elements that I have given all "C" names as a memory device: Challenge, Criteria, Competition and Choice. In an assignment the challenge component is clear, and there are ways in which an assignment must be done - rules or criteria, then. Feedback by grades provides a type of competition, hopefully mostly with oneself - but also one seeks to avoid embarrassment in front of peers. The assignment itself is not voluntary, nor can it be, however when choices in how to accomplish the work are offered that provides some element of volunteering in being able to make a choice in how to proceed.
To complete my definition of games/gamification, I include with "my 4 Cs" an additional "3 Fs" - Fiero, Flow, and Failure. These concepts are discussed in the part of the Faire that speaks of the Psychology of Games. Accordingly, Adventurers' work here is not a final definition, but the start of a dynamic definition that will develop as you proceed in exploring Game Based Learning.
The author gurus whose books are used in class have slightly different definitions, although their definitions also contain a good bit of agreement. Those definitions can be found in Kapp's book ("What is a Game?") on pages 6-9, Kindle locations 712-771. McGonigal's definition ("The Four Defining Traits of a Game") is in her book on pages 20-25, Kindle locations 350-464.
For this Pilgrimage, one should
- identify the components each author finds to define a game
- note what components are alike and what are different
- determine what definition works best for you and describe that definition in your own__ words. While that definition could rely heavily on one or the other of our authors' definitions, one must explain with some detail why that definition is chosen. Of course a whole new definition can be developed that blends these authors' thinking in a wholly new way.
Well written, this Pilgrimage could easily amass 10 XP under the title "What is a Game?"
With a good working definition of "What is a Game" in hand, work can begin to understand "What is Gamification?"
To complete my definition of games/gamification, I include with "my 4 Cs" an additional "3 Fs" - Fiero, Flow, and Failure. These concepts are discussed in the part of the Faire that speaks of the Psychology of Games. Accordingly, Adventurers' work here is not a final definition, but the start of a dynamic definition that will develop as you proceed in exploring Game Based Learning.
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